The e-scooters that clutter up pavements may seem like a new thing, but a hundred years ago, there were already people zooming around London on powered scooters.
These were the Autoped, an American import that was once popular enough to regularly appear in the newspapers before vanishing seemingly without a trace.
Invented in the USA in 1915, they first appeared in London in 1917, despite a ban on imports during WWI, and really took off when the import ban was lifted in 1919.
By today’s standards, they look like a bargain, selling for just £36, although that’s actually about £1,600 in today’s money, so they were really aimed at the wealthy buyers.
Gamage’s, the people’s emporium, described them as being made for everybody who feels the necessity of making the most of time, of conserving health and energy, and keeping travelling expenses down to the minimum.
It was said to be able to reach speeds of 10mph, and unlike modern versions, the Autoped was powered by petrol.
(There was apparently an electric version by Eveready, but it might have been only in the USA)
For comfort over rough roads, they were fitted with 15-inch-diameter pneumatic tyres. The Lady magazine suggested the Autoped would make for a more suitable alternative to the motorbike.
They even played a key role in a silent movie, At Sword’s Point, about an annoying man who refuses to say no when rebuffed by a lady and, when trying to escape the relatives, steals an Autoped but collides with his pursuer, also on an Autoped. An “explosion followed, and they both disappeared”.
Wait, what?
His Majesty’s government wasn’t going to be left behind either, and there was a report in the Pall Mall Gazette of a “distinguished looking autopedist, gracefully erect” sweeping down Whitehall delivering parcels to 10 Downing Street.
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However, by 1922, the adverts aren’t by Gammages, but by owners selling them off cheaply in the classified ads. Several noted that the owners were switching to a car instead.
It seems that the British weather might have killed off the Autoped.
But finally, to that famous image of a lady on an Autoped – it’s of Lady Florence Priscilla Norman, a noted suffragist and was given the Autoped by her husband, the Liberal MP, Henry Norman.
Just think, had the Autoped lingered on for a few more years and become more affordable as manufacturing increased, how different the streets of our cities could have been.